author
Baroness Jemima Montgomery Tautphoeus
1807–1893
An Irish-born novelist who spent much of her life in Bavaria, she brought German settings, manners, and history to English-language readers. Her best-known books blend domestic drama with sharp observation of 19th-century society.
1 Audiobook
The Initials: A Story of Modern Life
by Baroness Jemima Montgomery Tautphoeus
About the author
Born Jemima Montgomery in County Donegal on October 23, 1807, she later became Baroness von Tautphoeus after marrying Cajetan Josef Friedrich, Baron von Tautphoeus, in 1838. She lived for many years in Germany, especially Bavaria, and wrote in English while drawing heavily on the places and people around her.
Her fiction is especially known for its portraits of Bavarian life, manners, and history. Among her best-known novels are The Initials, Cyrilla, Quits, and At Odds, works that helped English readers imagine a world just outside their own.
She died in Munich on November 12, 1893. Though not as widely read today as some of her Victorian contemporaries, her novels remain interesting for their cross-cultural perspective and their warm, observant view of 19th-century European society.